Mixing Greens

5 August 2014 / Workshops

In the last art lesson we looked at mixing ‘greens’ from blues and yellows.  The most important lesson we learnt was that we have to start by mixing only a very small amount of the darker colour (the blues) into the lighter colour (the yellow colour) to achieve the desired result. It is always easier to add a little more of the darker colour then try to lighten it with a large amount of the lighter colour.

Mixed Greens based on Phthalo Blue (Cool Blue)

We also learned that you can tone bright greens down by adding a small amount of red. That also explains why greens mixed with Ultramarine Blue are more muted as this colour, a warm blue,  is already red based

Mixed Greens based on Ultramarine Blue (Warm Blue)

To get a bit more fun from the exercise we all tried mixing different shades of greens and used it for a small painting of pears.

Will Kemp has written quit a helpful article on mixing greens. Here is the website were you can find his info.

http://willkempartschool.com/is-green-ruining-your-acrylic-paintings/

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